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Computer-Animated Mayhem

Jim Carrey's 1994 vehicle "The Mask" should demand a paternity test to divest itself once and for all of any responsibility for this mutant spawn. Where "The Mask" was a thinly drawn bank-heist comedy saved by Mr. Carrey's antic gifts, "Son of the Mask" is an irredeemable mess, a computer-animated Punch and Judy show without wit, heart or a single memorable performance.

Tim Avery (Jamie Kennedy) is a would-be cartoonist and full-time schlemiel, stuck in a low-level job at a cutting-edge animation company. When his wife, Tonya (Traylor Howard), begins to pester him about starting a family, Tim regresses into an evasive man-child, nuzzling and baby-talking with his beloved mutt, Otis. One evening, preparing for his office Halloween party, Tim chances upon a wooden mask that Otis has dragged home.

As viewers of the original "Mask" will know, this artifact is the property of Loki, the Norse god of mischief (here played by Alan Cumming). Whoever dons it immediately becomes a computer-animated whirlwind of obnoxious egotism and untrammeled desire (a transformation that in both "Mask" films is mysteriously regarded as a welcome path to self-actualization).

In short order, Tim is promoted at the company and impregnates his wife. But alas, their son, Alvey, is "born of the Mask" -- he's a semi-digitized superbaby, capable of shape-shifting, tap-dancing and feats of superhuman strength. When Alvey's mother leaves on a business trip and Loki decides to come back for his mask, poor Tim, and the even poorer audience, are in for a roller-coaster ride of manic chase scenes and computer-assisted mayhem.

Mr. Kennedy should have listened to W.C. Fields's dictum about never performing with dogs or small children -- his amiable blandness is no match for the cartoonish aggression of Alvey and Otis, who are soon engaged in a Tom and Jerry-style rivalry, chasing each other around the Avery house with mallets and grenades. The effects, while stunningly realized, are a depressing contribution to a style of computer animation that seems almost deliberately ugly.

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One begins to anticipate with dread the scenes in which the flesh-and-blood baby, played by the twins Ryan and Liam Falconer, morphs into a creepy digital version of himself. The computer-animated Otis, a greenish, drooling dog with glistening fangs, may scare some of the small children it was designed to please. But youngsters will suffer no lasting harm from this frantic, grating spectacle. Their less resilient parents may not be so lucky.

"Son of the Mask" is rated PG (Parental guidance suggested). It has a suggestion of off-screen sex, a sanitized depiction of childbirth and sight gags involving bodily fluids.

'Son of the Mask' Opens today nationwide.

Directed by Lawrence Guterman; written by Lance Khazei; director of photography, Greg Gardiner; edited by Malcolm Campbell; music by Randy Edelman; production designer, Leslie Dilley; produced by Erica Huggins and Scott Kroopf; released by New Line Cinema. Running time: 86 minutes. This film is rated PG.